1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmologic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an apparatus using optical coherence tomography (OCT) (hereinafter referred to also as an OCT apparatus) has been used practically, which utilizes interference caused by low coherence light to take tomographic images. This apparatus can take a tomographic image with a resolution corresponding to approximately a wavelength of light entering into an object to be inspected, and hence the tomographic image of the object to be inspected can be obtained with high resolution. The OCT apparatus is particularly useful as an ophthalmologic apparatus for acquiring a tomographic image of a retina on an eye fundus.
It is generally useful to bring an inspection portion of the apparatus (such as a measurement optical system) into alignment with respect to an eye to be inspected.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-181172 describes an optical image measurement apparatus as the OCT apparatus which takes a tomographic image automatically in a state of good alignment.
Here, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-181172 mentions automatic alignment for an eye to be inspected, but has no detailed description on a specific configuration.
The alignment for an eye to be inspected is often performed by detecting a pupil center position of an anterior ocular segment of the eye and by aligning the optical axis of an inspection portion to this detected position, regardless of manual or automatic alignment. However, in this case, depending on a characteristic of the eye to be inspected, there is a possibility of being the tomographic image of the fundus dark. In this case, the inspector is required to perform fine adjustment of a position of the optical axis of the inspection portion so that the fundus tomographic image is improved. This operation is complicated for the inspector.